The Hindu : New Delhi News : Alleged militant nabbed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 21, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Alleged militant nabbed

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 20. An alleged member of militant outfit Al-Umar, who was trying to set up a base in New Delhi under the garb of a shawl dealer, has been arrested by the New Delhi police.

According to the police, the Army Headquarter Liaison Unit had tipped-off the New Delhi police about the presence of a militant in New Delhi following which Inspector Ishwar Singh and his team developed further intelligence. The suspect -- identified as Firdaus Ahmed Bhat alias Manzoor, a resident of Srinagar -- was arrested from Baba Kharak Singh Marg in Connaught Place on Wednesday afternoon. The police recovered a Chinese pistol of .22-bore and live cartridges from his possession. The accused has been booked under the Arms Act.

The police said the intelligence agencies had begun doubting the activities of Firdaus, who posed as a door-to-door shawl seller, when they noticed that he was shifting his base in the Capital frequently. Also, he was presiding over monetary transactions involving huge amounts which were not commensurate to his income. The police have recovered several bank deposit slips, account books, mobile phones and SIM cards from his rented accommodation at Bhogal in South Delhi. He had rented the place only 15 days ago. However, no shawls were recovered from his hideout.

Further, the police said Firdaus was apparently trying to legitimise his "business" by renting a shop for Rs. 50,000 at Kashmiri Handicraft Expo, NDMC Parking, in Connaught Place. Investigations revealed that Firdaus had come in contact with militants at a young age. A Class IV dropout, Firdaus had joined the Al-Umar militant outfit when he was barely 14. A militant, Rashid, trained him how to handle an AK-47. While he had no record of active participation in militant activities, he used to extort money from the local businessmen and give the money to the militants.

In 1994, Firdaus became Group Commander for Al-Umar in his native place, Shora, and continued working for militants. He would loot vehicles and carry out snatching along with his group members and forward the booty to militants.

Srinagar police arrested Firdaus and his group members for the first time in 1994. He remained in jail till 1996 and escaped to Kolkata after release. But, he remained in touch with militants in Srinagar.

After about five years, Firdaus married a Srinagar-based girl and kept shifting his base and remained largely untraced. However, his activities again came under the scanner once again when Bilal, an important member of Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HUJI), was arrested from his house in Srinagar in 2003. Firdaus was arrested and remained in jail for six months before being released on bail.

Subsequently, Firdaus began canvassing for a particular political party in Srinagar. Later, he began visiting Delhi purportedly to sell shawls from time to time. Since August 2004, however, Firdaus stayed remained in the Capital while shifting his accommodation.

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